1. Think back to when you were twelve or seven or even five years old…

2. How would you describe your childhood?

3. What are your favorite childhood memories?

4. What was your typical day like?

5. What did you do for fun?

6. And what did you worry about?

7. No childhood is perfect…

8. but for most people, they were at least allowed to be children.

9. Welcome to the 1900s Welcome to Child Labor

10. "There is work that profits children, and there is work that brings profit only to employers. The object of employing children is not to train them, but to get high profits from their work." -- Lewis Hine, 1908

11. Furman Owens, 12 years old. Can't read. Doesn't know his A,B,C's. Said, "Yes I want to learn but can't when I work all the time." Been in the mills 4 years, 3 years in the Olympia Mill. Columbia, S.C.

12. Adolescent girls from Bibb Mfg. Co. in Macon, Georgia.

13. Doffer boys. Macon, Georgia.

14. When Lewis Hine began to make photographs for the National Child Labor Committee, the employment of small children in mines, factories, and fields was common.

15. A general view of spinning room, Cornell Mill. Fall River, Mass.

16. While some states had passed child labor laws, generally they were weak, and enforcement was almost non-existent.

17. The Mill

18. A moments glimpse of the outer world. Said she was 11 years old. Been working over a year. Rhodes Mfg. Co. Lincolnton, N.C.

19. Some boys and girls were so small they had to climb up on to the spinning frame to mend broken threads and to put back the empty bobbins. Bibb Mill No. 1. Macon, Ga.

20. One of the spinners in Whitnel Cotton Mill. She was 51 inches high. Has been in the mill one year. Sometimes works at night. Runs 4 sides - 48 cents a day. When asked how old she was, she hesitated, then said, "I don't remember," then added confidentially, "I'm not old enough to work, but do just the same." Out of 50 employees, there were ten children about her size. Whitnel, N.C.

21. The overseer said apologetically, "She just happened in." She was working steadily. The mills seem full of youngsters who "just happened in" or "are helping sister." Newberry, S.C.

22. Jo Bodeon, a back-roper in the mule room at Chace Cotton Mill. Burlington, Vt.

23. In 1911 some two million children under sixteen years of age were a regular part of the American workforce.

24. Newsies

25. A small newsie downtown on a Saturday afternoon. St. Louis, Mo

26. A group of newsies selling on Capitol steps. Tony, age 8, Dan, 9, Joseph, 10, and John, age 11. Washington, D.C.

27. Tony Casale, age 11, been selling 4 years. Sells sometimes until 10 p.m. They boy had marks on his arm where his father had bitten him for not selling more papers. He (the boy) said, "Drunken men say bad words to us." Hartford, Conn.

28. Out after midnight selling extras. There were many young boys selling very late. Youngest boy in the group is 9 years old. Harry, age 11, Eugene and the rest were a little older. Washington, D.C.

29. Michael McNelis, age 8, a newsboy [with photographer Hine]. This boy has just recovered from his second attack of pneumonia. Was found selling papers in a big rain storm. Philadelphia, Pa.

30. Francis Lance, 5 years old, 41 inches high. He jumps on and off moving trolley cars at the risk of his life. St. Louis, Mo.

31. Many of them worked twelve hours a day or more.

32. Miners

33. At the close of day. Waiting for the cage to go up. The cage is entirely open on two sides and not very well protected on the other two, and is usually crowded like this. The small boy in front is Jo Puma. S. Pittston, Pa

34. View of the Ewen Breaker of the Pa. Coal Co. The dust was so dense at times as to obscure the view. This dust penetrated the utmost recesses of the boys' lungs. A kind of slave-driver sometimes stands over the boys, prodding or kicking them into obedience. S. Pittston, Pa.

35. Harley Bruce, a young coupling-boy at Indian Mine. He appears to be 12 or 14 years old and says he has been working there about a year. It is hard work and dangerous. Near Jellico, Tenn.

36. Breaker boys, Hughestown Borough Pa. Coal Co. One of these is James Leonard, another is Stanley Rasmus. Pittston, Pa.

37. A young driver in the Brown mine. Has been driving one year. Works 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Brown W. Va.

38. Breaker boys. Smallest is Angelo Ross. Pittston, Pa.

39. Thanks in large part to the political campaign waged by the National Child Labor Committee, Americans came to believe that the federal government should set limits on child labor.

40. The Factory

41. View of the Scotland Mills, showing boys who work in mill. Laurinburg, N.C

42. Boys in the packing room at the Brown Mfg. Co. Evansville, Ind.

43. 9 p.m. in an Indiana Glass Works.

44. Some of the young knitters in London Hosiery Mills. London, Tenn.

45. Young cigar makers in Engelhardt & Co. Three boys looked under 14. Labor leaders told me in busy times many small boys and girls were employed. Youngsters all smoke. Tampa, Fla

46. Willie, a Polish boy, taking his noon rest in a doffer box at the Quidwick Co. Mill. Anthony, R.I.

47. Day scene. Wheaton Glass Works. Boy is Howard Lee. His mother showed me the family record in Bible which gave his birth as July 15, 1894. 15 years old now, but has been in glass works two years and some nights. Millville, N.J.

48. A boy making melon baskets in a basket factory. Evansville, Ind.

49. Rob Kidd, one of the young workers in a glass factory. Alexandria, Va.

50. Congress passed laws in 1916 and 1918, but the Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional because they infringed on states' rights and "denied children the freedom to contract work."

51. Sea Food Workers

52. Oyster shuckers working in a canning factory. All but the very smallest babies work. Began work at 3:30 a.m. and expected to work until 5 p.m. The little girl in the center was working. Her mother said she is "a real help to me." Dunbar, La.

53. Shrimp pickers, including little 8 year old Max on the right. Biloxi, Miss.

54. Johnnie, a nine year old oyster shucker. Man with pipe behind him is a padrone who has brought these people from Baltimore for four years. He is the boss of the shucking shed. Dunbar, La.

55. Manuel the young shrimp picker, age 5, and a mountain of child labor oyster shells behind him. He worked last year. Understands not a word of English. Biloxi, Miss.

56. Cutting fish in a sardine cannery. Large sharp knives are used with a cutting and sometimes chopping motion. The slippery floors and benches and careless bumping into each other increase the liability of accidents. "The salt water gits into the cuts and they ache," said one boy. Eastport, Me.

57. Hiram Pulk, age 9, working in a canning company. "I ain't very fast only about 5 boxes a day. They pay about 5 cents a box," he said. Eastport, Me.

58. In 1924, Congress passed a constitutional amendment authorizing a national child-labor law, but enough states did not approve the amendment, so it did not pass.

59. A Variety of Jobs

62. Child labor began to disappear only during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when adults found themselves competing for the lowest-paying positions, those held by children.

63. Struggling Families

64. Mrs. Battaglia with Tessie, age 12, and Tony, age 7. Mrs. Battaglia works in a garment shop except on Saturdays, when the children sew with her at home. Get 2 or 3 cents a pair finishing men's pants. Said they earn $1 to $1.50 on Saturday. Father disabled and can earn very little. New York City.

65. A Jewish family and neighbors working until late at night sewing garters. This happens several nights a week when there is plenty of work. The youngest work until 9 p.m. The others until 11 p.m. or later. On the left is Mary, age 7, and 10 year old Sam, and next to the mother is a 12 year old boy. On the right are Sarah, age 7, next is her 11 year old sister, 13 year old brother. Father is out of work and also helps make garters. New York City.

66. Picking nuts in dirty basement. The dirtiest imaginable children were pawing over the nuts eating lunch on the table. Mother had a cold and blew her nose frequently (without washing her hands) and the dirty handkerchiefs reposed comfortably on table close to the nuts and nut meats. The father picks now. New York City.

67. Federal regulation of child labor finally came about in 1938, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set minimum wages and maximum hours for all workers employed in interstate commerce, and also placed limitations on child labor.

68. Pastimes and Vices

69. Teaching the young rider how to start. A common scene in pool rooms. St. Louis, Mo.

70. Messengers absorbed in their usual game of poker in the "Den of the terrible nine" (the waiting room for Western Union Messengers, Hartford, Conn.). They play for money. Some lose a whole month's wages in a day and then are afraid to go home. The boy on the right has been a messenger for 4 years. Began at 12 years of age. He works all night now. During an evening's conversation he told me stories about his experiences with prostitutes to whom he carries messages frequently. Hartford, Conn

71. A.D.T. messenger boys. They all smoke. Birmingham, Ala.

72. A group of newsies playing craps in the jail alley at 10 p.m. Albany, N.Y.

73. 11:00 a.m. Newsies at Skeeter's Branch. They were all smoking. St. Louis, MO.

74. Richard Pierce, age 14, a Western Union Telegraph Co. messenger. Nine months in service, works from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Smokes and visits houses of prostitution. Wilmington, Del.

75. After the new laws and reform, Children under sixteen were prohibited from working in such dangerous occupations as manufacturing and mining.

76. Group Portraits

77. Fish cutters at a Canning Co in Maine. Ages range from 7 to 12. They live near the factory. The 7 year old boy in front, Byron Hamilton, has a badly cut finger but helps his brother regularly. Behind him is his brother George, age 11, who cut his finger half off while working. Ralph, on the left, displays his knife and also a badly cut finger. They and many youngsters said they were always cutting themselves. George earns a $1 some days usually 75 cents. Some of the others say they earn a $1 when they work all day. At times they start at 7 a.m. and work all day until midnight.

78. Children on the night shift going to work at 6 p.m. on a cold, dark December day. They do not come out again until 6 a.m. When they went home the next morning they were all drenched by a heavy, cold rain and had few or no wraps. Two of the smaller girls with three other sisters work on the night shift and support a big, lazy father who complains he is not well enough to work. He loafs around the country store. The oldest three of these sisters have been in the mill for 7 years, and the two youngest, two years. The latter earns 84 cents a night. Whitnel, N.C.

79. Getting working papers in New York City.

80. At 5 p.m., boys going home from Monougal Glass Works. One boy remarked, "De place is lousey wid kids." Fairmont, W. Va.

81. A few of the young workers in the Beaumont Mill. Spartenburg, S.C.

82. In other occupations, the new federal laws prohibited children under sixteen from working during school hours, and limited the number of hours they could work after school and on weekends.

83. The Supreme Court upheld these laws, which Congress expanded in 1949 to cover commercial agriculture, transportation, communications, and public utilities.

85. Think again about when you were 12 or 7 or even 5 years old…

86. This has been a creation of Mrs. Aranda’s Technology Video TV Special Thanks to “The History Place” on-line for allowing educators to reproduce their pictures and quotes for instructional purposes.